The site listed no charges made during May. The June statement included only a $61.12 charge from an online electronics supplier, and the April statement included $463.67 in charges for computer equipment and $12 for parking.

"The citizens have a right to know how we spend city funds, and this is one small part of providing them with that information," Mr. Quatrevaux said.

He's right.

Credit card abuse has been rampant across several public agencies in our metro area in recent years. Earlier this month, former French Market Corp. director Kenneth Ferdinand was charged with a single count of felony theft. The charge came almost a year after the agency's board pushed Mr. Ferdinand out amid questions about $20,000 in credit card charges he made, mostly in restaurant and for bar tabs.

But Mr. Ferdinand was a relative penny-pincher compared to Jim Bridger, the former head of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad. Between 2007 and 2009, Mr. Bridger charged more than $108,000 to the agency's credit card, including routine meals and alcohol at local eateries. In a stunning dearth of accountability, auditors found that 700 of Mr. Bridger's 801 charges lacked detailed receipts or any receipts at all. Mr. Bridger faces state charges of malfeasance in office and felony theft for other alleged abuses unrelated to his credit card use, though federal investigators are still probing his actions.

The list goes on. In the past two years, scandals involving credit card abuse have rocked Mandeville city government, Louis Armstrong International Airport, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association and separate housing agencies in Slidell and Jefferson and St. John the Baptist parishes.

The best solution is to cut up public credit cards or at least to severely limit their use. Legislative auditors also have advised establishing clear credit card policies and banning charges for entertainment and gifts. Those are necessary steps.

But they are not enough. Every public entity in our metro area that allows employees to use credit cards should follow Mr. Quatrevaux's lead and post the card statements online. Knowing that the public can easily review all charges would force public officials and employees to evaluate whether an expense truly serves a public purpose.

That alone could go a long way toward preventing further credit card abuses.